DPW building to see major remodel

Bids and priority list discussed by IC Commission

 

IMLAY CITY — Major changes may be coming to a city-owned building here that may become home to the Farmer’s Market as well as being utilized as a Community Center, along with other uses.

Imlay City Mayor Barbara Yockey said at a recent meeting the city had garnered a great deal of interest with bids for a planned renovation of the old DPW garage at 406 E. Third St.

Plans are in the works to transform the building into a new community center.

Yockey said the City Commission reviewed bids at a special meeting on April 9 and intended to make a recommendation to vote on bids at its next regular meeting on April 15.

At the bid opening, city officials looked over 11 bids overall, seven companies that bid on the entire Request For Proposal (RFP) bids. four others bid on specific jobs, such as electrical, heating, overhead doors and the design phase.

The lowest bid for the complete project was $208,134.08 by Tanis Builders of Imlay City. Bids ranged from the Tanis bid to the high by Allied Building Services in Detroit, MI who submitted a bid of $694,142.00.

Other bids included; Planck Construction of Imlay City $280,528; Polymath Development LLC, Detroit, MI. $293,950; 29five Homes of Brownstown, MI. $317,000; Advanced Construction of Temperance $370,460 and Bossman Construction of Flushing, MI. $520,240.

The single phase bids were as follows; Electrical – SD Electrical from Lapeer, MI $32,385; Heating – Kapala Heating & Air Conditioning in Lapeer, MI $21,000; Overhead Door West, Waterford, MI $17,200 plus $6,500 for each additional door, if any; Design Phase only – Midwest Commercial Construction in Imlay City, MI $27, 986.

The building, known by many locals as the old DPW garage, is a 5,000 sq. ft. pole barn type building located along E. Third St., near the Imlay City Police Department facility.

Since the demolition and removal of the former Sign Shoppe, the former DPW garage is now well seen to passing motorist and officials are excited about the prospects of what the building could look like when the remodeling is done.

“Personally, I would love to see the full glass overhead doors installed, said Mayor Yockey. “It could be a great addition to Imlay City with many possible uses.”

Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Christine Malzahn presented the city commission with a rendering of what the building could potentially look like.

“It would be a wonderful spot for the Farmer’s Market, a place for our Concerts in the Park when the weather is an issue and just a general community gathering place,” Malzahn said during her presentation to the commission in January of this year.

Malzahn made the presentation to the commission, regarding the future of the former DPW building and the organization’s (DDA) interest to purchase the building for $1.

She presented documentation to the board that showed a “visionary-only” concept of what the building could look like, along with an explanation of what the facility could offer for services.

In her proposal, Malzahn said around $200,000 could be used on the project if approved, with funding coming from a $100,000 Michigan Economic Development Corporation grant in addition to $50,000 from IC Holdings and a $50,000 match from the city of Imlay City.

“This facility could be very useful to the community,” Malzahn shared with the board. “Obviously our DDA events, like Kringle Market, Farmer’s Market and a back-up location for Concert in the Park could potentially be in there. We could also look at making it a revenue generating facility by renting it out to groups and organizations, kind of like an Event Center type thing.”

At the time, no action was taken on the former DPW building with a request from the city for further information on the project.

Since then, developers have toured the building and created a projected cost to do the work, based on the RFP document.

The commission was expected to discuss the matter further at their April 15 meeting.